Dymo DiscPainter CD/DVD Printer - 1738260

This is my first disc painter and I have to say that i am impressed. I have printed about 50 discs for business presentations and think that they look very professional. I have not had to change the ink cartridge yet, but have ordered (on Buy.com) a few replacements to have on hand as I will use this frequently. I found printable CD and DVD media at Sam's Club for a great price that works well. There are different settings that control the quality of the print job, as with any printer. The software was easy to install and is easy to use.
 
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If you have a need for very nice looking disks, this is the product for you. It's easy, quick and comes out looking like or better than professional disks. I haven't used it often enough to need more ink, so I don't know about "value" in terms of the ink supply. Everythink else is great.
 
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It says it can do 100 discs before I need to buy ink. The price of ink is much cheaper than 100 labels and ink. If you just put a title I am sure you can get more than 100 out of the ink.
 
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Very expensive, in my book. But the coolness factor is there. You will need to find a source for cover art, there several out there.... John
 
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I think because of the HDMI connection, the monitor will not display any boot up information- it only comes on at the Vista welcome screen. By using the VGA connection, it works OK. I am in the process of buying a HDMI video card, and a HDMI cable to see if that corrects the problem in that format. Even in the VGA analog mode, the picture and clarity are fantastic. Maybe I'm wasting my time and money to see how it will work in the HDMI mode. Will it be better? We'll see.
 
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I'm a nut on CD/DVD labels, always looking for the perfect label, giving a manufacturer's look to a CD or DVD. This does it. If copying an original disk, I can scan it, and use that for my label. Or I can design my own. Only complaint is that, so far, no Vista 34 bit drivers, but they say they are working on it.
 
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He found it easy to set-up and use without help. Easy for someone who does not have a lot of computer knowledge. Would recommend for anyone who wants to buy a tech gift for someone who likes to make their own cd's.
 
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Okay, I confess I have never seen one in operation or used one, but as a fellow DVD/CD printer, allow me to make a couple of observations. (1) The radial printing technique is nice in that it eliminates any misregistration that is a part of the usual disk printing technique, where the disk is loaded onto a tray and then the image is printed conventionally in an inkjet printer. It took me a half-dozen or so test prints before I finally got my printer setting just right. (2) Don't know about Dymo ink quality or longevity compared to the major brands. Big unknown, but then I don't know how ANY branded ink is going to hold up over the years on a particular surface. (3) This printer has an extremely tiny niche in the printer market. It could be around for years or it could be discontinued next month. If discontinued, where do you get your ink? Also, the ink sounds expensive. (4) What other options are out there? I've heard the Epson disk printing technique leaves a lot to be desired. Fortunately, I found out a few years ago that Canon printers have built-in disk printing STANDARD, but that due to patent issues the slots are intentionally blocked on US models. Google "Canon CD print" and you'll find out how, for about $30, you can re-enable that function. I format my images with Nero's Cover Designer, then print on a Canon IP3000. Bulletproof mechanical design, very good results. Sorry for the sour grapes but wanted to offer some comments for disk newbies. Interesting idea, but not the only way to print disks. I especially like the option of "feathering" the inside and outside edges--that would be a challenge in Nero or Photoshop or PaintShopPro.
 
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I bought and love this printer and the quality of the images it prints. BUT, unlike the ScottG comment, I only get 70 to 75 printings to an ink cartridge, and that is using the MEDIUM quality print setting. Dymo notes "around 100 discs per cartridge" 70-75 is far less than "around 100". So, unless Dymo qiickly either reduces the price of their ink or provides larger cartridges for the same price (fat chance!), I'll be going back to my clunky Epson to print discs. Even at the high Epson ink prices, it's considerably less expensive to use than the Dymo, and a little bit prettier. I print a lot of discs and just can't afford to keep using Dymo's expensive ink.
 
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This is by far one of the best products I have ever purchased it is so easy to use and fast I also feel that the CD that I have printed are also purfect I use clear CD covers on my disks and the efect is outstanding thanks
 
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Well this is the way to go for easy great looking labels. I have tried many different stick on labels for a long time for my DVD presentations for clients. The best stick on label I had found was the thin white film type which look good but still had to be applied and deal with bubbles. The discpainter makes a labeing easy and quick. The printer is small enough to store away when not needed but easy to connect to a USB port for printing when needed. I find the results professional looking. There are more expensive dedicated discprinters out there but for a small number of disc printing I would recommend the discpainter, easy and quick, (did I mention easy to use).I have not tried to print a disc with a lot of photography but have used thumbnail veiws which look nice utilizing a mostly white background. I find the device easy to use and fits the bill for professional looking labels. The included software is easy to use but you can also use other software/label programs to print labels from. Templates are included to use other label programs. The best print will be obtained by using the gloss water resistance gloss labels. These disc cost a bit more but in my opinion are worth the expense. I use the Taiyo Uden blank printable gloss disc for high compatibilty with most dvd players. The cost of the ink is about $40 for a cartridge. There are posted reviews elsewhere where folks are getting as many as 180 disc printed per cartridge, not bad. If you are selling the disc it won't take you long to recover the cost of the printer, cartridge and blank media. I found the Discpainter for the best price right here at Buy.com and received within 2 days of ordering.
 
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The DiscPainter takes a novel approach to the old problem of labeling cd's and dvd's - it spins the disc and applies the ink one thin circle at a time directly onto printable media while it's spinning. The good news is that the printing is fast and the better news is that the drying time is REALLY fast. The bad news is it looks terrible. There is a tiny white space in between each line of printed ink. If you hold the disc far enough way from your eyes, it is almost imperceptible. If you look at the disc from a normal distance or take a close look, you can see the spaces. In addition, the ink looks dull - it lacks vibrancy. I made a backup copy of a dvd that I specifically chose because of it's colorful picture. I scanned it at 600 dpi and printed one copy on an Epson R220 and one on the DiscPainter. It looked crisp and bright on the Epson and all of the tiny writing was legible. On the DiscPainter, the colors looked washed out and the writing was sort of legible, but only with a magnifying glass. The white spaces in between the circles of ink were annoying at best. I tried printing 3 different labels and used different settings to try to get the best results and could not get a satisfactory print job on the DiscPainter. I spoke to a representative at Dymo who informed me that the white spaces on the disc were normal and inherent in the way the DiscPainter printed in its circular fashion. I sent my DiscPainter back for a refund. If you need a professional looking disc, this is NOT the printer for you. I'm not crazy about the mechanical problems I have with the Epson R220, but at least the finished product is professional looking. Discs printed on the DiscPainter look like they were done by an amateur. Even if the DiscPainter was not outrageously priced, I wouldn't use one. Dymo needs to take their great idea of circular printing and go back to the drawing board to eliminate the white spaces and to design an ink cartridge with brighter ink that has at least 6 colors besides black instead of the 3 color cartridge they use now. If they solved these problems, I'd give the DiscPainter another go round.
 
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It is hard to write a review of the DiscPainter after Scott above seemed to have covered everything. All I can say is that I agree with him 100%. I used to hate to label discs because the methods available were so slow and produced such poor results. The DiscPainter has changed all that and has made disc labeling fun. I now focus my efforts on my creativity and not on trying to figure out uber geek complex software. Two final observations: I too am printing significantly more discs than the 100 per ink cartridge claimed by Dymo. I get well over 150 per cartridge. Also, I must say that buy.com's price for the DiscPainter is stunningly low. In fact it is the best price I have seen advertised.
 
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I played with this for over an hour at the PDN Photo EXPO in NYC on 10-18-2007. I first did a double take on this item because it Prints the image as it SPINS! The CD/DVD as it would do as it plays tracking Inside-> Out. The Image is Unbelievable that it lays down on any InkJet Printable CD or DVD White, Clear, Matte, Gloss, and it will use any make of printable CD/DVD, so you're not locked into any special brand of printable disc. The printer writes at 1 Disc Full Color in 600 dpi in 60 Seconds, and of course 2 minutes at 1200 dpi. This is a great idea because with normal printing of a CD/DVD you have the Print Head moving back and forth which always has some lines in the image from time to time - Plus I just hate the CD Tray thing how you have to twist yourself up to see if the starting arrows line up, and then 1 out of 3 are always off center showing the white edge of the print side. This can't happen on this printer because the image is laid down as it spins - Just like the way a record has the micro grove in it from the Outside-In. Well, this is the same but it lays down from the center out. It reminds me of the toy I had once growing up where the paper spins in the middle on a motor, and you drip or squirt paint into the center as the spinning force streaks paint from the center out to create an incredible one of a kind artwork. You can see through the window as the print appears as it moves forward back into view. The Color Ink cartridge looks like a HP with the Head part of the cartridge. The Cartridge had a label on it saying "DYMO #11" that's it. I was told at the Expo to expect the single multi color cartridge to run about 39.00 dollars or so and can print about 100 Disks set at a normal quality print. I own 9 of the DiscPainter's!!! Yes, I said Nine (9) of them. I just love this printer so much, and didn't want to share it anymore :-) I kid you not, I had a line forming to use it for the digital proofs I send out. Picture Proof goes on the CD as data, and then I got the same Picture on the CD and DVD Label. My clients are the biggest printer publishers in the world, and I get nothing but compliments on how this looks when it is delivered. I've even just started getting requests to just put one image on a Disc only, and print the match on the surface! I went a took some time out to print a test target on several CD's and read then into my Color Calibration software to set up some color curves. I know this is just Nuts! but after a lot of curve tweaking, I pulled this off, and the colors look stellar! This was a bit hard to pull off because the ink for this is just 3 colors, so not having the Black did present a challenge. An Important note too, I'm laying down 90% color on each Disc at the Best, High, Gloss setting on each, and I've been getting over 180 CD/DVD's from one Ink Cartridge. This is well above the estimate of 100 as published.
 
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